The Experts' Consultation on Communication and Social Mobilization (Cancun, June 2003) as well as the Stop TB Advocacy and Communication Task Force (Johannesburg, September 2003) strongly recommended that a formal entity be established within the Stop TB Partnership to facilitate the development, implementation and evaluation of TB advocacy and communication interventions under the Global Plan to Stop TB 2006-2015. An external evaluation of the Stop TB Partnership conducted in mid-2003 similarly recommended that serious consideration be given to establishing such a body to better support the needs of the Stop TB Partnership. In response to these recommendations, the Stop TB Coordinating Board authorized the creation of an Advocacy, Communications and Social Mobilisation (ACSM) Working Group and it had its first meeting in January 2005.
Read the full Terms of Reference.

TB in the news

ACSM Working Group elections for Chair and Vice Chair

ACSM e-Update

Announcement: ACSM Working Group Meeting - 5 & 6 November 2007

European Regional Stop TB Partnership

G8 must commit itself to fighting TB

Tuberculosis and Air Travel

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE: Italian health authorities trace flights of American with rare form of tuberculosis

African Nations Should Allocate Enough Funds, Implement Policies To Meet MDGs, Including Goals To Combat AIDS, TB, Malaria, Advocates Say

[Apr-16-2007]
African countries should allocate sufficient funds and implement appropriate policies to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, which include targets to reduce HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, advocates said last week, Inter Press Service reports. Representatives from 143 member organizations of the African Civil Society Coalition on HIV/AIDS and Allies at the summit of African Union health ministers in Johannesburg, South Africa, urged African governments to set aside 15% of their national budgets for health care, as well as engage civil society and ministers to mobilize resources to combat TB. Countries also should aim during the next 10 years to bridge the funding gap for TB control of almost $11 billion, the coalition said. "We cannot meet the MDGs at this pace," Regis Mtutu of the Treatment Action Campaign said, adding, "We need to double up our efforts through some extraordinary work, particularly in the areas of HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria." The coalition presented a petition with the recommendations to the A.U. commission for health (Nduru, Inter Press Service, 3/12).

"TB patients: Some don’t... some do, Some won’t... some will"

The Lancet (www.thelancet.com)

We read with interest the International Standards for Tuberculosis Care (ISTC) published in the November, 2006 issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases (1). Focusing primarily on essential activities that all practitioners - public and private- should endorse regarding the management of patients diagnosed with suspected or confirmed tuberculosis, the ISTC brings to the forefront the responsibilities of all providers in delivering quality care to their patients. However, of equal interest is the recent publication of The Patients Charter for Tuberculosis Care (2) which addresses the rights and responsibilities of patients diagnosed with tuberculosis and which was developed in tandem with the ISTC. ...

Action for Global Health has been started simultaneously in Brussels, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. They are monitoring how the actions and policies of European governments affect health in developing countries. They are inviting other NGOs and civil society organisations to join with them to build a European campaign to ensure that governments, the private sector and European institutions fulfil the promises they have made to reduce the rates of infant and maternal mortality and slowing down the spread of transmissible diseases in the world's poorest countries. To find out more click the link above.

Bulletin of the World Health Organization

Special theme: tuberculosis control; Promising new tools for prevention, detection and cure; How reliable are the data?; The Global Drugs Facility; Barriers to completing treatment; Russian region reports progress; Public health classic: lessons from the past; Interview: Jorge Sampaio, UN special envoy to Stop TB

Global map reveals XDR-TB cases

This month, WHO Stop TB launches a global map illustrating countries where XDR-TB has been confirmed, to coincide with preparations for countries to carry out rapid surveys of drug-resistance, as recommended by the WHO Global Task Force on XDR-TB in October 2006. The surveys will estimate the extent of XDR-TB within at-risk populations, and indicate whether further investigations are required. Laboratory capacity is being strengthened as part of the surveillance strategy, to ensure patients will have improved access to diagnosis and treatment of drug-resistant TB.

UNAIDS aligning with Stop TB
1 December, Geneva
Today Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS, called for a collective response to MDR and XDR-TB
Read more here.

Dr Piots' speech to the Stop TB Partnership Coordinating Board

WHO Press Release, Jakarta, Indonesia
29 November 2006 - Killer diseases like tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS are often forgotten while the whole world’s attention is now focusing on new emerging and epidemic/ pandemic potential diseases.
Read More

More articles
More press releases
Archive

The number of ACSM Working Group members is: 281.